This invention relates to an evacuated dual glazing system and more particularly to an evacuated dual pane window structure for greatly reducing the thermal losses therethrough.
The recent energy crisis has produced world-wide concern with respect to the shortage of raw materials, and particularly with respect to the shortage of fuels. With each passing year this shortage will undoubtedly grow more acute, with increasing world industrialization. Increasing use and shortages will of course produce commensurate increases in cost of all fuels. This fact, plus the environmental constraints on unlimited expansion of electric power generating capability will force architects and building contractors to find and employ better ways for reducing heat loss in future construction.
It is well known that a major component of the total heat loss in building construction is through the windows, and this is the predominant effect of the glass-box skyscrapers which exist in the major cities around the world. Among the ways of reducing the heat loss through windows is to use multiple panes of glass, for example storm windows in addition to the regular windows, or dual glazing of the type sold under the trademark thermopane windows. Obviously, the losses could be reduced even further by using three, four, or many more multiple layers of spaced glass panes. This becomes expensive and impractical. Another way to reduce the heat loss in a dual glazing system would be to evacuate the space between the glass panes. However, this cannot be done with present construction techniques because the glass of any reasonable pane size would immediately fracture due to atmospheric pressure, and even if thicker glass were used which could withstand the atmospheric pressure, such a construction would be extremely dangerous. The accidental breakage of one pane of the glass would cause a violent implosion, throwing glass fragments in all directions and being capable of causing serious injury or death to any person in the vicinity. This effect might be likened to that of the evacuated cathode ray tubes in television sets, in which implosion warnings are posted and special provisions are made in the form of implosion barriers to prevent injury to viewers in the case of the fracturing of the cathode ray tube.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a new and improved dual glazing system which substantially reduces the heat loss therethrough.
Another object of this invention is to provide a new and improved evacuated dual pane window structure which eliminates the danger of flying glass in the event of a fracture of one pane of the window.
A further object of this invention is to provide a new and improved evacuated dual pane window structure in which a single vacuum pump and control may be utilized for evacuating a plurality of windows in accordance with the window structure embodied in this invention.